Depop: Gen Zers’ Thrift Shop
Published on March 4, 2021, at 11:23 a.m.
by Mikaela Weis.
As millenials and Gen Zers shift to shopping more ethically, many people have moved to thrifting their clothes as opposed to buying fast fashion from companies that use unethical labor. According to ThredUp, traditional thrifting is set to rise 6% annually from 2019 to 2024. Although thrifting is a great way to make sure clothes aren’t ending up in landfills, sometimes shoppers can spend hours digging through bins and looking through racks only to go home empty-handed.
Depop and other online stores have provided a solution to this problem by combining the resale aspect of a thrift store with the ease of online shopping. Depop has over 21 million global users and more than 25 million items available on the app at all times, according to Glossy. The same ThredUp study showed that online thrifting is set to increase by 69% between 2019 and 2021. While Depop used to be full of people doing closet cleanouts, the app has recently shifted to a market for resellers and small-business owners to easily sell their items.
As reselling becomes more popular, more users are joining Depop in hopes of making sales. These resellers are people who go to their local thrift stores, buy clothes at a low price point and resell them on Depop for profit.
For the most part, reselling clothes is not an issue. Buying secondhand helps keep clothes out of landfills, and most Depop sellers keep their prices reasonable. On top of that, some sellers even customize the pieces they thrift, which means customers can find things that they would never see within the walls of a thrift store.
The problem started when some resellers decided to take advantage of the free market aspect of Depop and charged hundreds for items they found at thrift stores for only a few dollars. TikTok has been quick to point out the unethical practices on the app, with people consistently posting videos poking fun at these types of sellers.
Unethical practices
From a public relations perspective, there are many practices on the Depop app that can immediately hurt a reseller’s brand and reputation.
One of these practices is immediate trust-breaking with other sellers. Depop sellers sometimes engage in trading items they are selling instead of buying from each other. After completing a trade on an item, some vendors then immediately sell that traded item for double its original price. This practice can irrevocably ruin the reseller’s relationship with other sellers.
“Reselling for double the price is inevitable, but it sucks when it happens to you as a seller. You are trying to sell your items with good intentions, trying to make it affordable for those who need it, to watch it be flipped for double or even more,” said Andrea Perez, a Depop seller.
Another practice on Depop that can cause problems for a reseller’s brand is
not being honest about the source of the clothes they are selling. Many people switched to thrifting as a way to avoid fast fashion brands like Shein and Zaful. While most resellers on Depop stick to thrift stores to stock their shops, some have been exposed recently for selling clothes directly from fast fashion stores for double the price.
Addressing this issue, Depop seller Hannah Valentine, @ShopGhostSoda, said, “If you wear it for a couple of months and sell it, that’s fine, but if you source from fast fashion and rely on fast fashion production to supply your inventory, then you are becoming the fast fashion source.”
This type of practice can immediately damage relationships, as many customers rely on Depop and other thrift stores to actively avoid buying fast fashion. It also can damage the reseller’s credibility since they are lying about the source and price of the items they have listed.
Best practices
Building trust is one of the most important parts of a business relationship. When buying anything, the customer wants to be able to trust the seller. With the surge of new resellers and high prices, it can be hard to build relationships on the Depop app. The best way to cultivate relationships is to sell with good intentions.
Valentine’s advice for those who want to sell on Depop or want to build their platform and brand on the app is to do their research. It goes a long way to show that sellers know their brands and are listing items at reasonable prices.
Perez’s advice is to do it for the right reasons.
“There are always people out there selling for the wrong reasons. Having the right ones will make you content in the end,” said Perez.
While Depop should directly address the ethics of this reselling trend on its app, customers shouldn’t shy away from the platform. Being a well-informed customer could lead to a great thrift find from an ethical Depop seller.
